Amazon Is Crushing Main Street and Threatening the Vitality of Our Communities

[justiceischeap]

15. If you really want to look at what is killing brick and mortar businesses

look no further than this thing called the Internet. So, really, Al Gore killed Main St. shops. <= Joke

It was only a matter of time once the Internet was widely available to all and sundry that little (and some not so little) businesses would be impacted by online sales.

Like it or not, we're a capitalistic society and the list of places that I "can" shop at is becoming much shorter than the places I "can't" shop at. When I use Amazon, I try to use businesses that distribute through Amazon. This is for the free Prime two-day shipping but it also helps support another business not just Amazon (plus, I often don't have to pay taxes on items shipped from other states).

Another reason I use online retailers is because my hobby is photography. There is no store convenient to me (about an 1.5/hr one-way drive to reach my nearest brick and mortar store which is in another state) nor as price competitive where I can purchase most of the camera gear I use or want. However, there is an online retailer out of Georgia that I spend a lot of money with for used gear. They have a similar business model to Amazon...no storefront, just a warehouse of goods.

Did Amazon/Wal-Mart put the camera store out of business or was it digital camera technology? I'm going with digital technology and businesses that weren't savvy enough to diversify their sales to stay in business--meaning, too many camera stores were set-up around film photography and didn't expand to include computer sales, audio gear for video filmmaking, etc. to go along with camera sales and film processing. That is how two of the largest retailers in NYC stayed afloat and thrive today. Plus with the cost of retail property (not Amazon or Wal-Mart's fault at all but greedy developers), it just isn't feasible for most small businesses that have direct online competition to stay afloat.

All these articles do is point the finger at businesses that took advantage of what people want--convenience and competitive pricing.